How Diu Got Independence from the Portuguese!!!
'The Portuguese surrendered about midday on December 19, 1961. They were brought to their knees by the 67 sorties from Jammnagar.
Flashback:
After Vasco da Gama's became the first European to land in India at Calicut a.ka. Kozhikode on May 20, 1498, the Portuguese wished to rule over the whole of the Indian Ocean. They wanted to stop using the established SPICE Route,which passed through the Persian Gulf and Red Sea and controlled by the Arabs.
To control the Arabian Sea- DIU was an important place for establishing their command over the spice business with India. After being victorious in the Battle of Diu, the Portuguese spread their strongholds in Goa, Ceylon(Srilanka), Malacca(Malayasia) and Ormuz and helped in establishing the Portuguese empire rule.
View of Diu from Museum 1920From 1535 to 1961, Diu remained under the rule of the Portuguese until the Indian Union's army invaded under "Operation Vijay ". The armed siege by the Indian government included strikes by sea, air and land fight for more than 36 hours and ended with Diu becoming part of India, which ended 451 years of Portuguese rule.
Diu Airport
How the Operation happened:
The island is separated from the mainland by a narrow channel running though a swamp. The channel could only be used by fishing boats and small craft. No bridges crossed the channels at the time of hostilities. The Portuguese garrison in Diu was headed by Major Fernando de Almeida e Vasconcelos (district governor and military commander), with around 400 soldiers and police officers, organised as the battlegroup "António da Silveira".
Diu was attacked on 18 December from the north west along Kob Forte by two companies of the 20th Rajput Battalion — with the capture of the Diu Airfield being the primary objective — and from the northeast along Gogal and Amdepur by the Rajput B Company and the 4th Madras Battalion.
These Indian Army units ignored requests from Wing Commander (rank) M.P.O. "Micky" Blake, planning-in-charge of the Indian Air Force operations in Diu, to attack only on first light when close air support would be available. The Portuguese defences repulsed the attack backed by 87.6mm artillery and mortars, inflicting heavy losses on the Indians.
The first attack was made by the 4th Madras on a police border post at 01:30 on 18 December at Gogol and was repulsed by 13 Portuguese police officers.
Another attempt by the 4th Madras at 02:00 was again repulsed, this time backed with Portuguese 87.5mm artillery and mortar which suffered due to poor quality of munitions.
By 04:00, ten of the original 13 Portuguese defenders at Gogol had been wounded and were evacuated to a hospital.
At 05:30, the Portuguese artillery launched a fresh attack on the 4th Madras assaulting Gogol and forced their retreat.
Meanwhile, at 03:00, two companies of the 20th Rajput attempted to cross a muddy swamp separating them from the Portuguese forces at Passo Covo under cover of dark on rafts made of bamboo cots tied to oil barrels.The attempt was to establish a bridgehead and capture the airfield.This attack was repulsed with fairly heavy losses by a well entrenched unit of Portuguese soldiers armed with small automatic weapons and sten guns as well as light and medium machine guns. According to Indian sources this unit included between 125 to 130 soldiers, but according to Portuguese sources this post was defended by only eight soldiers.
As the Rajputs reached the middle of the creek, the Portuguese on Diu opened fire with two medium and two light machine-guns, capsizing some of the rafts. Major Mal Singh of the Indian Army along with five men pressed on his advance and crossed the creek. On reaching the far bank, he and his men assaulted the light machine gun trenches at Fort-De-Cova and silenced them. The Portuguese medium machine gun fire from another position wounded the officer and two of his men. However, with the efforts of company Havildar Major Mohan Singh and two other men, the three wounded were evacuated back across the creek to safety. As dawn approached, the Portuguese increased the intensity of fire and the battalion’s water crossing equipment suffered extensive damage. As a result, the Indian battalion was ordered to fall back to Kob village by first light.
Another assault at 05:00 was similarly repulsed by the Portuguese defenders.
At 06:30, Portuguese forces retrieved rafts abandoned by the 20th Rajput, recovered ammunition left behind and rescued a wounded Indian soldier who was given treatment.
At 07:00, with the onset of dawn, Indian air strikes began, forcing the Portuguese to retreat from Passo Covo to the town of Malala.
By 09:00 the Portuguese unit at Gogol also retreated allowing the Rajput B Company (who replaced the 4th Madras) to advance under heavy artillery fire and occupy the town.
By 10:15, the Indian cruiser INS Delhi, anchored off Diu, began to bombard targets on the shore.
At 12:45, Indian jets fired a rocket at a mortar at Diu Fortress causing a fire near a munitions dump, forcing the Portuguese to order the evacuation of the fortress — a task completed by 14:15 under heavy bombardment from the Indians.
At 18:00, the Portuguese commanders agreed in a meeting that, in view of repeated air strikes and the inability to establish contact with headquarters in Goa or Lisbon, there was no way to pursue an effective defence and decided to surrender to the Indians.
On 19 December, by 12:00, the Portuguese formally surrendered. The Indians took 403 prisoners, which included the Governor of the island along with 18 officers and 43 sergeants.
In surrendering to the Indians, the Diu Governor stated that he could have kept the Army out for a few weeks but he had no answer to the Air Force. The Indian Air Force was also present at the ceremony and was represented by Gp Capt Godkhindi, Wing Cmdr Micky Blake and Sqn Ldr Nobby Clarke. 7 Portuguese soldiers were killed in the battle.
Major Mal Singh and Sepoy Hakam Singh of the Indian army were awarded Ashok Chakra (Class III).
On 19 December, the 4th Madras C Company landed on the island of Panikot off Diu, where a group of 13 Portuguese soldiers surrendered to them there.
The Diu air raids
A MD450 Ouragan formed the backbone of the air strikes on Diu.
The Indian air operations in the Diu Sector were entrusted to the Armaments Training Wing led by Wg Cdr Micky Blake. The first air attacks were made at dawn on 18 December and were aimed at destroying Diu's fortifications facing the mainland. Throughout the rest of the day, the Air Force had at least two aircraft in the air at any time, giving close support to advancing Indian infantry. During the morning, the air force attacked and destroyed Diu Airfield's ATC as well as parts of Diu Fort. Oorders from Tactical Air Command located at Pune, a sortie of two Toofanis attacked and destroyed the airfield runway with 4 1000 lb Mk 9 bombs. A second sortie aimed at the runway and piloted by Wg Cdr Blake himself was aborted when Blake detected what he reported as people waving white flags. In subsequent sorties, the Indian Air Force attacked and destroyed the Portuguese ammunition dump as well a patrol boat that attempted to escape from Diu.
In the absence of any Portuguese air presence, Portuguese ground based anti-aircraft units attempted to offer resistance to the Indian raids, but were overwhelmed and quickly silenced, leaving complete air superiority to the Indians. Continued air attacks forced the Portuguese governor of Diu to surrender.
The Indian cruiser INS Delhi was anchored off the coast of Diu and offered a barrage of from its 6-inch guns at the Diu Fortress where the Portuguese were holed up. The Commanding Officer of the Indian Air Force operating in the area reported that some of the shells fired from the New Delhi were bouncing off the beach and exploding on the Indian mainland. However, no casualties were reported from this.
At 04:00 on 18 December, the Portuguese patrol boat NRP Vega encountered the New Delhi around 12 miles (19 km) off the coast of Diu, and was attacked with heavy machine gun fire. Staying out of range, the boat had no casualties and minimal damage, the boat withdrew to the port at Diu.
At 07:00, news was received that the Indian invasion had commenced, and the commander of the Vega, 2nd Lt Oliveira e Carmo was ordered to sail out and fight until the last round of ammunition. At 07:30 the crew of the Vega spotted two Indian aircraft on patrol missions and opened fire on them with the ship's 20mm Oerlikon gun. In retaliation the Indian aircraft attacked the Vega twice, killing the captain and the gunner and forcing the rest of the crew to abandon the boat and swim ashore, where they were taken prisoners of war.
Epilogue
The Indian armed forces executed the mandate in under two days, but they suffered 22 fatalities and 54 were wounded. The Portuguese toll was 30 killed and 57 wounded.
India took 5,094 personnel as prisoners from Goa, Daman and Diu, who were repatriated to Portugal in six months.
Portugal slammed India's 'irredentism', and at their request, an emergency session of the UN Security Council was convened on December 18. The resolution that called for ceasefire and Indian withdrawal was vetoed by the Soviet Union. Needless to add, diplomatic relations between the two countries soured. The chill thawed only in 1974.
Post-liberation, Goa, Daman and Diu were integrated with the Republic as centrally administered Union Territory. On May 30, 1987, the Union Territory was split, and statehood was bestowed on Goa. Goa, Daman and Diu celebrate December 19 as their Liberation Day
-Experts from Wikipedia and Rediff
posted by geo @ 8:56 PM
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